ASVAB CampContext Clues flashcards
8 cards with the formulas, rules and traps from this lesson. Answer in your head, then flip to check.
Strategy · 1/8
What is the four-move routine for a context-clue item?
Cover the choices and read the whole sentence; find and name the clue type; predict your own plain word; compare choices to the prediction and confirm the best one by replacing the target word.
Term · 2/8
What is an appositive, and how does it help with an unknown word?
A phrase set off by commas, dashes or parentheses that renames the noun beside it. It acts as a built-in definition: 'The farrier, a craftsman who shoes horses, ...'
Rule · 3/8
Contrast clues (but, unlike, rather than): what must you decide?
Which side of the contrast the unknown word belongs to, then take the opposite of the other side. Landing on the wrong side is the most common contrast error.
Rule · 4/8
What does a concession word like 'although' or 'despite' signal?
A surprise: the second part goes against what the first part suggests. 'Although the truck looked decrepit, it started at once' means decrepit is run-down.
Rule · 5/8
How do you use an example clue such as 'such as' or 'including'?
Ask what the listed examples have in common and choose the answer naming that whole category, not one example from the list.
Common trap · 6/8
How do you handle negation like 'hardly superficial; the crew rebuilt the frame'?
Find what the negative applies to and remove it to define the word. Superficial means surface-level; 'deep' is a trap because it describes the actual repairs.
Common trap · 7/8
Literal vs. figurative: why is 'burial cloth' wrong in 'cast a pall over the party'?
Test makers offer the literal sense as a distractor. If the literal reading makes no sense in the situation, use the figurative one: here a gloomy mood.
Fact · 8/8
What are the five common distractor types in Word Knowledge?
Opposite meaning; related topic word; wrong part of speech; wrong intensity (too mild or too strong); wrong sense of the word, often the literal one.